Master of Arts in Couple and Family Counseling

at Northeastern Illinois University USA

Northeastern Illinois University’s master’s in Social Work (MSW) degree prepares advanced social work practitioners to serve vulnerable populations and contribute to the functioning and well-being of underserved communities. A master’s degree in social work is a vital step toward licensure and allows social workers to hold clinical, supervisory, or program director roles in the field.

Classes are offered during the late afternoon and evening hours to accommodate working professionals. The program may be completed full or part-time, requiring two or four years of study to complete, respectively.

The M.S. in Exercise and Sport Science is designed as a multidisciplinary study of human movement and performance across the lifespan. Through classroom, laboratory, and field based experiences, our graduates learn about human performance and disease prevention from childhood to older adulthood. Students use skills to identify, analyze and explain physiological, structural and functional dynamics that influence fitness, health and performance in the sport and exercise settings. Students learn about the integrations of human physiology, movement, and cognition through both clinical and applied coursework.

Students can elect one of two concentrations in the program:

• Exercise Science
• Physical Education, Sport and Recreation

Environmental Studies is an applied major designed to give students knowledge of and the ability to develop solutions to environmental problems. Students can focus on one of two areas:

• Environmental policy and planning, or
• Environmental interpretation / education.

Students in option 1 investigate the causes, results, and solutions to environmental problems from a policy perspective. They study regulations influencing environmental protection and degradation; they also gain practical skills useful in the field.

Students in option 2 specialize in community interaction and will qualify for careers as naturalists with parks and other outdoor agencies and as environmental educators in schools and non-profit organizations.

The program culminates with an internship experience in which the student applies knowledge, gains practical experience; it often constitutes a first job in an environmental career. To earn a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies, students must complete 24 credit hours of core requirements and 18 credit hours of approved electives. Up to nine hours of credit from other relevant fields may be accepted toward the major, with advisor approval.

The Master of Science in Instruction: Secondary English/Language Arts Program is designed to offer professional development to classroom teachers who are interested in updating and refining their teaching competencies in the areas of Language Arts and English instruction at the secondary level.

Within this program students complete coursework in two areas:

• a professional core composed of coursework in literacy foundations (theory and pedagogy), curriculum development, cultural diversity, assessment, media technology, and research-18 cr hrs.
• a concentration in language arts with interdisciplinary coursework in education, reading, English, linguistics, and/or speech - 18 cr hrs.

Northeastern Illinois University offers the Master of Arts in Educational Leadership degree.

• School Leadership (PreK-12);

Program objectives for the concentrations have been designed to develop exemplary administrative leaders and to foster their continuing growth and effectiveness. Specifically, students in the School Leadership (PreK-12) concentration develop competencies related to effective leadership, educational management practices, and staff development at the school level. This concentration leads to The State of Illinois Principal Endorsement.

The master's degree program in gerontology is a multidisciplinary degree intended to provide both breadth and depth in the study of aging. The required portion of the 36 credit program consists of three parts: The classroom component consists of seven required courses (21 credits), the experiential component consists of an internship (3 credits) and the capstone component involves a thesis (3 credits). In addition to the internship, a practicum is required for those students who do not have prior experience in the field. The thesis may be in basic or applied research or may be a theoretical integration of a topic area.

The combination of required and elective courses prepares graduates to assume positions of responsibility in direct service, administration, social policy, and research with, or on behalf of, older people.

By design the program is part-time, with courses offered in the evening and Saturdays. A student may complete all but the thesis in three academic years by enrolling in one course in the first semester and two courses each semester thereafter. The thesis is the final course and is usually taken after all classroom work is completed.

Northeastern Illinois University's B.S. in Accounting is one of the six largest accounting programs in the state of Illinois.

Accounting is the language of business. It’s essential that all small and large organizations have employees who understand basic accounting principles and can employ them for best business practices. In corporate, government, nonprofit and public accounting, the knowledge of debits and credits, financial statements and accounting information systems is basic for all business activities.

The College of Business and Management has a set of well-established Program Learning Goals and Learning Objectives across all programs that are assessed on a periodic basis. The College of Business and Management is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and is among the top five percent of the worldwide business schools offering degree programs. See the Dean’s Welcome for four compelling features to study in the College of Business and Management.

Northeastern Illinois University’s Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Justice Studies program gives students the opportunity to examine the social and historical roots of justice, crime, and the law. Students seek to discover how these roots have shaped public policies, including those of the criminal justice system, and study systematic explanations for the failure—or triumph—of justice in society and explore the potential for transformative justice.

Through critical inquiry, social science investigation, and experiential learning, Justice Studies students develop an understanding of social and economic justice issues and critical criminology. For instance, criminology examines the structural roots of crime and takes up the legal and social concerns of diverse, urban, low-income, and disenfranchised communities, whose members are often heavily targeted by the criminal justice system.

Northeastern Illinois University offers the Master of Arts in Educational Leadership degree.

• Higher Education Leadership.

The Higher Education Leadership concentration provides knowledge and skills related to the history and development of colleges, universities, and community colleges, and to effective administrative practices at that level. It stresses an understanding of administrative and supervisory skills for the development and support of instructional systems at the collegiate level. Students in this concentration have the option of completing a thesis. Courses are taught in the evenings and Saturdays at the main campus, at El Centro, at Carruthers Center, at Lake County, and at a variety of locations in the Chicago metropolitan area through Distance Education and web-enhanced courses.

The Urban Community Studies graduate program places intense emphasis on preparing students for scholar/activist work that addresses the interests and issues of urban residents, particularly communities of color. The graduate program is centered on the in-depth examination of social, cultural economic and institutional structures that impact urban communities. Using ethnographic data collection and other action-based research methodologies as a core focus, courses in Urban Community Studies aim to forge culturally relevant understandings of human relationships in urban communities in the Chicago metropolitan area and worldwide. The graduate program seeks to prepare students to acquire employment in administrative, executive and teaching positions in urban educational, human and social service agencies.

Specific Goals of the Master of Arts Degree in URBAN COMMUNITY STUDIES

• Students will identify, deconstruct and decode the existing socio-economic forces that influence urban structures.
• Students will acquire a rigorous grounding in theory and research required to analyze and understand urban dilemmas
• Students will identify and analyze culturally relevant models of behavior to navigate dilemmas faced in urban communities
• Students will examine social movements and the role of scholar-activists in the solutions to address contemporary problems and issues in urban communities